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I agree. It was a design element that was destined to be short lived and was. Nike loves to emphasize the technical elements of their templates but eventually the element/feature becomes stale and in this sense it somewhat called out a design flaw, the jerseys required extra reinforcement which tends to imply a less than elegant design. What is funny is that they have swung to the other end of .the spectrum and created great minimal/sleek templates but those lack distinguishable/marketable design design elements will likely push their design back to the speed machine era

I think what they have in the VU is a good balance. It has signature visual cues, but they’re done in a very tasteful way, from the collar triangle that holds the team/league logo to the Y-shaped back seam to the laser-punched holes and stretchy woven fabric. Do you think people appreciate it more because of how ugly some of the previous design cues were?

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The fabric isn’t noticeably different between the templates that use the Flywire collars and those current templates that don’t, so I have a hard time believing the collars have been made stronger to accomplish what the Flywire supposedly intended. Again, that element could easily be put inside the collar if it had an impact, while not having any effect on the visual aspect. Nike﻿ just wanted to emphasize a design element that made their uniforms instantly recognizable. I just believe the Flywire was a marketable design element rather than a functional element. Kind of like the zipper design of the Mach Speed template. They claimed the panels sat against the pads better and the vent holes allowed for maximum ventelation. Then why weren’t those specifications carried over to the Vapor Untouchable — which is by far Nike’s best looking uniform, though it still does have Nike-specific design details like the mesh collar and Y-shaped seam on the back?

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The fabric isn’t noticeably different between the templates that use the Flywire collars and those current templates that don’t, so I have a hard time believing the collars have been made stronger to accomplish what the Flywire supposedly intended. Again, that element could easily be put inside the collar if it had an impact, while not having any effect on the visual aspect. Nike﻿ just wanted to emphasize a design element that made their uniforms instantly recognizable. I just believe the Flywire was a marketable design element rather than a functional element. Kind of like the zipper design of the Mach Speed template. They claimed the panels sat against the pads better and the vent holes allowed for maximum ventelation. Then why weren’t those specifications carried over to the Vapor Untouchable — which is by far Nike’s best looking uniform, though it still does have Nike-specific design details like the mesh collar and Y-shaped seam on the back?

The fabric isn’t different, but the construction is. The center section of the flywire collar was a single piece V, so the stitching likely reduced the stretch in that piece, resulting in less “bacon neck” warping when it inevitably was grabbed during play. You’re right that the choice to apply it externally was likely just for show, though, and I think that’s one of the things that people took issue with (the other being when teams chose to color it dress shirt/toilet seat style). The VU collar has the two separate ends that meet and attach at the triangle, so the construction stitching at the point where they all meet likely takes a lot of that stress.

I’m guessing the “zipper” ventilation was ditched because some numbers completely covered it, especially single digits and 12-19s. They main ventilation in the VU is down in the lower back, which I think is a more functional spot anyway. Part of the process is experimenting with different ideas and evolving the design over time to incorporate the elements that work best.

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The fabric isn’t different, but the construction is. The center section of the flywire collar was a single piece V, so the stitching likely reduced the stretch in that piece, resulting in less “bacon neck” warping when it inevitably was grabbed during play.

That’s fair. I honestly did not consider that.

15 minutes ago, andrewharrington said:

Part of the process is experimenting with different ideas and evolving the design over time to incorporate the elements that work best.

As with anything. It’s just interesting to see these various recognizable and marketable design elements only to then completely abandon almost all of them to create a very minimalistic design. We went through three different Pro Combat templates to the Speed Machine to the Hypercool to the Mach Speed to the Vapor Untouchable, and the only design elements that carried over to the current/finished product is the fabric, ventilation holes at the bottom of the jersey (though applied differently) and the mesh at the collar (initially created as an extension of a “zipper”). That’s surely a lot of very public trial and error that I’d more so attribute to simply wanting their various templates to be marketable. It’s not a stretch to think a template as clean and functional as the Vapor Untouchable could have been achieved from the beginning and behind closed doors (with input and testing from players).

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As with anything. It’s just interesting to see these various recognizable and marketable design elements only to then completely abandon almost all of them to create a very minimalistic design. We went through three different Pro Combat templates to the Speed Machine to the Hypercool to the Mach Speed to the Vapor Untouchable, and the only design elements that carried over to the current/finished product is the fabric, ventilation holes at the bottom of the jersey (though applied differently) and the mesh at the collar (initially created as an extension of a “zipper”). That’s surely a lot of very public trial and error that I’d more so attribute to simply wanting their various templates to be marketable. It’s not a stretch to think a template as clean and functional as the Vapor Untouchable could have been achieved from the beginning and behind closed doors (with input and testing from players).

I think the big thing to remember is that the entire concept of a “proprietary football uniform design” is only about a decade old. So, in ten years we’ve basically gone from “look at us, we’ve designed the most disruptive garment in the history of the sport, and this is the future” to “okay, this is what we’ve learned from three cycles of garment innovation as it pertains to football.” I think the designs are starting to settle in a bit as athletes and coaches aren’t quite as content as they were ten years ago to accept something just because it’s new; it has to be functional as well.

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I think the big thing to remember is that the entire concept of a “proprietary football uniform design” is only about a decade old. So, in ten years we’ve basically gone from “look at us, we’ve designed the most disruptive garment in the history of the sport, and this is the future” to “okay, this is what we’ve learned from three cycles of garment innovation as it pertains to football.” I think the designs are starting to settle in a bit as athletes and coaches aren’t quite as content as they were ten years ago to accept something just because it’s new; it has to be functional as well.

It's called diminishing returns. It happens with technology/products everywhere. You go into an underserved sector and do some research, look at some data, perform R&D and you have some legitimate innovation going on with a slew of new products/designs. By the time you get around to the 3rd iteration or so you've pretty much captured all of the major efficiencies and you are left with fine-tuning and refinements which don't warrant additional expenditures because constant upgrading wastes time and money in most scenarios. Now if your supplier is willing to foot the bill for you to stay on the latest and greatest then by all means feel free to be on the bleeding edge.

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Thoughts on the collar: previous to fly wire, collars were typically made of stretchy rib-knit material, or also-stretchy jersey-mesh-based material.. so the giant leap to the fly wire seemed sensible at first, but in the past several years, primary jersey materials have evolved to be less stretchy, matte "performance" materials that generally don't lend themselves to the same problems that traditional rib-knit and mesh do.. therefore, the need to address the issue no longer exists

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Thoughts on the collar: previous to fly wire, collars were typically made of stretchy rib-knit material, or also-stretchy jersey-mesh-based material.. so the giant leap to the fly wire seemed sensible at first, but in the past several years, primary jersey materials have evolved to be less stretchy, matte "performance" materials that generally don't lend themselves to the same problems that traditional rib-knit and mesh do.. therefore, the need to address the issue no longer exists

I think some teams even have striped rib knit collars inserted into their VU jerseys (the Patriots come to mind).

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I think some teams even have striped rib knit collars inserted into their VU jerseys (the Patriots come to mind).

Agreed, but my point was that overall stretchy jersey materials were a huge contributing factor.. now that the jersey materials are not as stretchy, collars no longer need fancy add-ons like flywire to avoid stretching over shoulder pads, etc.

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The Baylor Bears have been teasing new uniforms. If the graphics being used are any indication, it seems like the team is switching from Vegas gold back to a more traditional gold. The number font has also received a few tweaks, making the numbers less jagged and more rounded.

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The Baylor Bears have been teasing new uniforms. If the graphics being used are any indication, it seems like the team is switching from Vegas gold back to a more traditional gold. The number font has also received a few tweaks, making the numbers less jagged and more rounded.

Was just about to post this! The font is a huge upgrade--the current font is just outdated and verging on illegible. I suppose color scheme depends on your preference. A lot of people don't like the switch away from "Old Gold" or "Vegas Gold" because the gold helmets are likely going away. But I think the color scheme is much cleaner and more consistent, so I'm a fan.